


Dog Day

by TerryMcKay



Category: Bodyguard (TV 2018)
Genre: (where Julia was not blown up), Canon Continuation, F/M, Prompt Fic, puppy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:15:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23634463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerryMcKay/pseuds/TerryMcKay
Summary: David's kids were gifted with a puppy by their grandparents to help them cope with everything. It is David who is left to deal with the dog. But as it is, he cannot take care of the pup one day and is left to ask a certain someone...
Relationships: David Budd & Julia Montague, David Budd/Julia Montague
Comments: 24
Kudos: 84





	Dog Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [akh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/akh/gifts).



> This developed through a prompt I got from @akh who suggested writing something about Julia and puppies. I had a bit of a hard time writing this as I have trouble seeing her with a dog, but I hope it's not too OOC. So, this is my Easter gift to you all.
> 
> Thanks, everyone for reading and always commenting. It means a lot.

Normalcy. Under any other circumstances, Julia knows this as the state or of being normal. Living life as you know it, getting up in the morning, always around the same time, ignoring breakfast every morning, having the same routine, day in - day out. 

It is something that returned only tentatively throughout the past few weeks. The involuntary outing of her and David’s affair by Hunter-Dunn who leaked the audio tapes to the press exploded in their faces and they were met with an avalanche of hatred, lewd comments and ridicule. 

No small part of that played the male population of her own party - with Roger as the ringleader upfront. Normalcy was something both Julia and David longed for during those times. 

Julia had had ample time to get used to the press and the whole media circus that went with it when she became Home Secretary, but even she was shocked by the sheer force of resistance and sexism she was faced with. 

But neither David nor his family had ever been exposed to anything of the sort. They usually were the kind that read about it in the news. 

At times it even resembled a hunt on the “Home Sexcretary’s toyboy” and ended up in a fight between Julia and David. More than once flared tempers clashed when neither could even begin to think straight. There were times when fighting seemed to be her new state of normalcy. Only when she finally decided that the one drastic measure was stepping down as Home Secretary could save their relationship, his family and her sanity did things finally start looking brighter again. 

Normalcy finally didn’t mean tilting at windmills anymore. It was a new routine, being relieved off all her duties that had almost become a part of herself. Suddenly she had more free time on her hands than she needed. This again was not exactly beneficial to her and David’s relationship. But at least they weren’t under constant duress and surveillance anymore. They weren’t that important anymore. After a while anyway.

As time went by, Julia got used to being a normal MP again, even enjoyed the anonymity of it, after all the exposure she had been faced with before. But she knew it, as much as David did that she is biding her time, waiting for the perfect moment to fight back, to throw the hat in for Prime Minister. 

Now, normalcy is easy-going. Julia is happy, as much as she can admit to herself. She still fears saying it out loud, could jinx things. So she doesn’t. Same goes for telling David how she truly feels for him. They survived hardship and he deserves to hear those three words, but so far, Julia has not managed to say them out loud. At least not quite as directly. She tries to show him, for she is not good with emotions, with allowing them to overpower her or with voicing out loud. But it’s fine as it is at the moment. 

David, too, has settled into his new life as DC. He and Vicky filed for divorce - an amicable one. She and her boyfriend move together pretty soon, Charlie has recovered from the onslaught of the media on him and Ella and begins to really blossom. Ella, always much tougher than her brother, a lot like her dad in that respect wasn’t fazed as much by the whole circus around them. 

It was then that David’s parents decided it a good idea to gift their two grandchildren with a dog, give them something in their lives that would give them a new purpose, some new sense of responsibility and should help them cope with their lives. David was not exactly happy with the decision his parents made on his behalf, Vicky even less. 

A dog - a ten week-old Border Collie mix named Bowie to be exact - was something Ella and Charlie had been nagging David and Vicky about for as long as David could remember. Naturally, the kids fell in love with the puppy almost instantly - not unlike David fell for Julia, he remembers pondering for a second, before the shrill voice of his ex-wife brought him back to reality. But this seemed to be their new reality, and they would have to live with it, for neither David nor Vicky had the heart to give the little thing back to David’s parents and confuse Bowie and hurt his parents.

That’s how David ended up, albeit involuntarily, as the new owner of a very curious, highly intelligent and still untrained dog.

\----------------------------

Normalcy seems to be the case on a one sunny, yet cold April morning, at least for Julia. She is working from home, another innovation in her new life. Part of her still misses her old life, of getting up at the crack of dawn, after a few hours of sleep or sometimes after of no sleep at all when David was there, getting to the Home Office, spending her time there, at Chambers or at no. 10, coming home way too late than it was healthy for anybody, with a shitload of work to do to keep her company. But this was then, and this is now. 

In a sense, today’s normalcy is much more relaxing, less anxiety-inducing and it gives her back some of the quality of life she was lacking before this new sense of freedom. Freedom, to do what she pleased and to be where she wanted to be, with no security service hovering around her like a dark cloud 24/7.

On this particular day, her schedule is not full as it usually is on other days, which should give her ample time to catch up on everything that had to take the backbench, the finer details of her comeback in particular. She needs everything to be planned meticulously, so that nothing, absolutely nothing could go wrong and her goal to of becoming PM would be a success and not a nonstarter.

Wearing a loose pair of slacks and her favourite burgundy cashmere pullover, she sits down in her study quite early this morning. There is plenty of time today, but old habits die hard. 

Before long, she has at least 15 tabs open and is immersed in writing, deleting, rewriting, researching and taking notes for that one speech that should change the game once again. The only thing that does not fit the picture of a seemingly immaculate Julia Montague, MP, are the woollen socks she is wearing, a pair she kept when David was around.

David’s sense of normalcy is ever-changing these days and today none of the kids, nor his ex-wife can tend to the dog. Vicky’s parents invited her and the grandchildren over for a pre-Easter weekend. 

That is how David ends up alone with his new family member, that has been with him for a little less than two weeks. Naturally, this on a day that is bound to be the busiest of the entire week. He got a call in the wee hours of the morning, telling him to be in his boss’ office first thing. So, saying that juggling the duties of his job and a baby dog is particularly difficult for him that morning is an understatement. 

“What am I going to do with you, buddy,” he asks Bowie cluelessly as he is hopping around on one leg, pulling on his second sock, while grabbing a piece of toast. Not really expecting an answer he looks down at the dog who tilts his head as if to say that has no answer to his predicament.

David sighs, crouches down to the little pup and picks him up. “In any case, you and I are going outside. You need a wee.” 

As Bowie trots outside in the back garden, sniffs here and there finds an intensely interesting butterfly and eventually does what David wants him to do, he observes the little dog. Bowie is not even allowed inside the building of New Scotland Yard before he is a little bigger and a bit more trained. 

Bowie comes running back to David when he calls his name. There aren’t many people he would trust his dog with. In fact, there is only one person he would trust his life, his children and his dog with. But the mere idea of asking her is ridiculous in itself. He simply doesn’t see her tending to this furry baby. It’s like mixing oil with water. Impossible to achieve. Besides the lunatic images that idea gives him, she would never agree to it. Unless, well, unless he didn’t give her an alternative option.

It is not a plan that would ever achieve a Nobel peace prize, but it’s the only idea he has. With a knot in his stomach, he packs a survival bag, packs his hyper dog and makes his way to Overstrand Mansions. 

David is tense, nervous. His mind keeps wandering off to all possible reactions. In the end, he knows there is only one possible way to “convince” her. This scenario skips the part where he asks her to help him, but presents her with a fait accompli. He chances a glance in the rearview mirror to his dog. The more he ponders about it, the antsier he gets and he almost sighs in relief when he sees her house from afar. 

Just before he decides to go into the lion’s den, he takes a last deep breath, turns the lock and sneaks the dog inside, hoping, praying for Bowie to stay quiet, to not make himself known straight away. He is lucky though. The puppy is much too overwhelmed by his new playground, sniffs and looks around excitedly as his tail wiggles. Just as he puts down the bag, he hears her.

“David?”

Julia rounds the corner curiously. The last person she expected to see this morning was David. He told her he would drop in and spent the night at her place tonight, seeing him now, seems curious to her. 

“What are you doing here,” she greets him as she comes over to him and leans in for a kiss. For the fragment of a second, all of David’s problems vanish. Her smell is flooding his senses, her presence overpowers him as her lips brush his.

Before David has a chance to enjoy the moment, prolong it and inevitably explain himself, an attempted bark breaks the quietness of her apartment and their kiss. 

Julia looks at the source of the disruption and sees a black and white furball with mischievous, black eyes looking at her impatiently, ready to finally be greeted. 

David watches as Julia’s expression changes from pleasant, yet surprised to dawning with understanding. Her look goes from the puppy back to her boyfriend in front of her who at this point tries his best to continue breathing. It almost seems like the former Home Secretary stands in front of him again. Annoyed, aloof and with no time for bullshit. But time is running low and he is desperate. 

“Julia, please, hear me out. You are the only one I trust…,” he makes his first try at convincing her. 

“No… you cannot be serious,” she blocks his attempt almost instantly. 

It was going to be difficult, if not impossible. Still, desperate times demand desperate measures. So he continues, looks at her earnestly, as he plays with the hem of her cashmere pullover.

“I can’t take him to work with me and … please,” he trails off but not without pulling her a little closer. “It’s only for a few hours and then he’ll be out of your hair again, I promise.”

Julia wants to rebuff him, wants to tell him no. But if there is one person she has trouble saying no to, it’s him. She wants to say no, she really does. She is bad with children and even worse with puppies. Her grandmother had a beagle once, but she wasn’t older than five or six and back then and it seemed like the dog was at least a hundred years old. So, there was no experience to draw from.

David sees the first traces of contemplation. At this moment, he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he keeps drawing lazy patterns on her hip, giving her time. But Julia still does not reply. Her eyes dart back to the dog who had moved closer to her, still ready to greet her.

“Julia, please,” he is pleading at this point, well aware that only Julia would ever get to hear this voice. 

This time it’s Julia who sighs. It takes another moment. By now, she has her hand on his chest. She averts her gaze from Bowie at last and looks into the crystal-blue eyes that wait for an answer. She is not convinced. Every fibre of her being wants to tell him, no, but instead, she hears herself mumble a disgruntled “fine”.

“Thank you,” he beams at her and plants another kiss on her lips, before he quickly turns around and is ready to dash out of the door, to work at last, where his boss is undoubtedly ready to give him a run-down.

“I will make up for it, I promise,” he turns back to her and adds with a glint in his eye.

“I bloody well hope so,” Julia retorts, throwing the puppy an exasperated look.

Just as David is nearly out of flat, he remembers his dog, turns back around and crouches down to his furry friend, tickles him behind his ear. “Bye, Bowie. Be a good boy. See you later.” 

He gets up to his feet, at last and gives Julia a smile who stands there with her arms crossed in front of her chest, almost irresistibly displeased. Yet, any more time with Julia would have to wait. Fighting his urges to lung forward and kiss her again, he dashes towards the door.

“Thank you, love. I love you!”

The words are out before David can stop them. They have been together for a bit now, have gone through intense times together, but neither of them has uttered those three words up till now. It had always been something of an unsaid agreement. It was a fact and did not have to be uttered out loud. 

There is no time now. No time to stop and take a look at her reaction and definitely no time to ponder over the possible ramifications those words might have on her and their relationship. Instead, he runs down the street to his car, jumps inside and is off to work, hoping his head might remain on his shoulders, once he is at work.

His words still echo in Julia’s ears long after he left the flat. The words were put out there in such a matter-of-fact manner, it almost shocked Julia. There was no doubt that she didn’t feel the same way about him, yet feeling this herself and hearing someone else say it to her, were still two entirely different things. Sometimes, she was still in awe, how David put up with her, how he went with her through the valley of tears and through smearing campaigns and still was by her side. 

But she can’t contemplate about the meaning of his words. A bark breaks the reverie and she is faced with carrying the burden of David’s problem - a furry problem to be precise. She looks at him with her hands on her hips. It’s almost as if she and the dog are trying to assess each other and neither can come to a definite conclusion. 

One thing is certain, she has no idea how to deal with dogs, but she would have to learn and find out very quickly. If she was one thing, has always been, it’s resilient and adaptive. As of recent, she has only needed those skills in the political life. This is a very crass change of scenery and field of application, but she would have to manage.

Julia raises an eyebrow and rakes a hand through her hair as she looks at Bowie. “Okay, what am I going to do with you?”

She feels a little ridiculous, talking to a dog, it’s not as if he would understand her anyway - at least not yet. It’s only now that she notices the bag, David put down before and decides to have a look. Perhaps this would give her some insight. It certainly would not be the holy grail, but she still hopes for some inspiration.

With her back to the dog, she rifles through the bag and is quickly disappointed. Dry food, some bowls for food and water, a blanket, a leash and a toy and bone to chew on were the basic contents of the bag. Even Julia knows that much. 

Nevertheless, her desire to curse David is cut short, when she hears the trickle of what she initially assumes is her tap. Though her tap does not leak. Her head whisks around and then she sees what caused that sound. 

Bowie walks away from a puddle, intensely relieved and unaware of what he has done.

“No, Bowie. You can’t do this here!” she exclaims exasperated, before cursing David once more. The last thing, Julia feels like doing, is to clean up pee. That is exactly one of the main reasons why she doesn’t see herself having any children. It’s just not her thing.

Meanwhile, Bowie seems bored sitting around, observing her, and trots off to explore the surroundings. 

All the grumbling and all the muttering doesn’t help as she cleans up his mess and tries to throw it into the loo and wash her hands. For a moment, she does not think of tending to the little one she has to babysit, does not really expect him to be up to any more shenanigans. 

When she finally sits back down again, she has lost track of her work altogether. It takes entirely too long, to remember where she left off work to greet David. At this point, she hopes she will get any work done today and with her mind in no man's land, she finds it particularly difficult to focus. Her fingers hover over her keyboard, ready to write, to get busy. Her eyes read and reread the words she wrote up till this point and flicks through her various tabs. This is when she jolts up and her head whisks around towards the living room.

“Shit,” she murmurs and gets up. Bowie. It isn’t as if she forgot about her duty as a dog-sitter. She simply hadn’t thought of it. Until, yes, until she realized there was more than one occupant in this flat at the moment and it had been quiet for entirely too long. 

So, instead of preparing her big speech, Julia finds herself traipsing around her flat, looking for the problem David had entrusted her with. But finding that furry little problem is easier said than done when it doesn’t make any sound whatsoever. 

Julia walks from the kitchen to the living room. Nothing. The only thing she finds there is the bag she left before. She grabs the toy just for good measure, in case she needed to lure Bowie from somewhere she didn’t want him to be. Still, there is no trace of the dog. 

The one sign that signals this flat really inhabits a dog, she finds as she passes the bathroom. Toilet paper is strewn across the entire bathroom floor. It is hard to tell that her bathroom has ever been clean before. Her marble floor is covered with bits of paper, some bigger, some smaller. It looks a bit like uneven confetti. 

Julia suppresses sighing for the umpteenth time that day as she presses her fingers against her temples and lets her hand rub across her face. This day could not end a minute too soon. She still had a few hours ahead and still no idea where the puppy was. Cleaning the bathroom floor would have to wait for now, even if the chaos irritated her to the core.

The search continues as she wanders across the hall, towards the bedroom. She is not someone to believe in God, not strictly anyway. She goes to church once a blue moon when her mother expects it of her. She was raised in a rather Catholic boarding school, but nothing those women tried to instill in her, ever managed to stick with her. Right now, however, she hoped, prayed that there were no more shenanigans, especially in her pristine white bedroom. 

As she peeks around the room, Julia expects to see it turned upside down. Despite her grave concerns, she finds her bedroom perfectly in order. There is nothing in that room that suggests that four paws entered it. Nothing but… well, nothing but one of her Louboutin pumps that were supposed to be out in the hallway.

She crouches down to pick up her shoe, which seems to look fine at first glance and promptly finds her other shoe underneath her bed. That one, however, does not look the way it’s supposed to.

“Oh, no,” she whispers more to herself than to anyone else. There isn’t anyone she could talk to anyway. Or so she thought. A motion suddenly draws her attention to the bed. and she stands up again and slowly, very slowly approaches the bed. Now she sees it. Anyone with a bit of sense could have noticed the bump in her bed upon entering the bedroom. Only her attention was on her £600 heels, she up till a few minutes ago called one of her favourites. 

“There you are! You and I are going to have a talk,” she starts as she uncovers the culprit who looks at her with black eyes. Any restrained annoyance of her chewed up Louboutin heels melts as she looks into Bowie’s innocent eyes. 

“Those were £600 you chewed up there,” there is a slight hint of mock accusation in her voice as she holds up the shoe. The dog just looks at her curiously, wondering if she will finally have time to play with him. 

“Come on, I guess, I will have to take you outside if I want the rest of my apartment still intact by the end of the day and not in shambles.” 

Finally, she sits down on her bed and takes another look at the dog, before she starts petting him for the very first time. She can’t remember the last time she petted an animal and doesn’t even know if she does it correctly. Bowie starts wiggling his tail wildly. It is as if this was the one thing he had been waiting for the entire time. 

“Right, walk… you and I. Now. Perhaps, I will actually have some time later to do my actual job,” she grumbles as she gets up and starts walking back into the living room. Bowie looks after her, unsure what to make of her, whether he should follow her to see what she is up to. 

She passes the bathroom once again, rolls her eyes and postpones it to later. She has neither the time nor the calmness to clean up any mess than the one in her bedroom and the one on her desk. 

“Bowie! Come here!” she commands a little more forcefully, this time as she takes the leash from the table, where she must have left it. Julia hates repeating herself, no matter whether if it’s a human or a dog she talks to, and her patience is wearing thin at any rate. But before she has to turn around and repeat his name or even walk back into the bedroom, she hears paws running towards her, clearly spurred on by the sound of the leash in combination with his name. 

Walking a dog looked easier when other people did it. You just put the dog on the leash, you go out in the park and the rest should be a cakewalk. At this point, Julia should not be surprised that it does not go that smoothly with her. She is well aware she is no dog-whisperer, but even she underestimated the exhilaration of a puppy in a park that was new to him. Sniffing here, stopping there, wanting to chase a leave here or finding a hole to stick his nose in there. 

Julia was convinced they hadn’t made more than a few hundred yards, but apparently, all the new impressions seem to wear Bowie out at last. So, when he finally sits down for a wee and obediently walks alongside her with loyal, yet tired eyes, they make their walk back to the flat. 

Admittedly, going out for a walk, no matter the prospect of being seen by someone, helped ease her mind, blow the cobwebs away. That speech has haunted her for better part of the week, yet she never managed to make it past the second page. It just didn’t feel convincing enough, not authentic in any capacity and certainly didn’t have enough bite to make it known, she was back and ready to conquer no. 10. 

The fresh air and being away from it for a bit feels oddly refreshing and all of a sudden she has an idea how to start the speech that should certainly prove to be the speech of her life. Everyone would be all over her, turn over every single word. No doubt her life would be under very close scrutiny - again. 

Did she even have a chance after the scandal that had rattled the country? What Prime Minister would Julia Montague be? What about that boy-toy of hers, would they marry? What was her agenda? She sees the headlines already. 

“Here we are,” Julia mumbles to Bowie softer than she intended when she lets him off the leash at last and he dashes back inside towards the water bowl. 

It is then that Julia decides that working against the puppy, letting him out of sight, do what he pleases is really rather exhausting than helpful. So, she grabs her laptop, all the papers she needs and relocates her workspace to the living room. 

As she flops down onto her couch with a sigh, she feels oddly inspired and is immersed into what could be the beginnings of a great speech. Just then Bowie jumps up on the couch and curls up beside her. 

There is an odd sense of peace, trust and affection this little creature offers her. Julia looks at him. She still is not convinced that a dog would ever be something for her, but she begins to see what people saw in having a pet. Bowie didn’t judge, he just wanted to be with her. 

Eventually, she averts her gaze and looks back onto the screen of her laptop, still lost in thought. She tries to shake away the reverie and manages to get back into working mode. Once again time is a fickle friend. Before she knows it, an hour has passed, in which she managed to get long past the infamous second page and now feels Bowie pressed tightly against her thigh, as if begging for a cuddle and warmth of any kind. 

Part of her wants to continue with work, wants to finish what she started, but her eyes are stinging and Julia feels how a headache slowly develops, feels the throbbing pain pounding from the sides of her head. She tried to ignore it before, but she knows, she needs a break before it develops into a migraine that radiates around her entire head and renders her useless to any kind of work. So, she shuts down her laptop and puts it aside. 

Bowie immediately takes the chance and puts his head on her lap. Again, it’s weirdly relaxing and when she finally starts petting Bowie, she feels her body pulling the plug. Any energy that was there before, was no more. One moment she still sees her surroundings tries to fight to keep her eyes open, the next moment, she can’t seem to care. Her eyelids become too heavy, her vision fuzzy. All she feels is Bowie’s warmth on her lap and on her hand. The hand she was using to pet him becomes limp and motionless. 

That’s how David finds her later in the evening. 

He found some excuse to get out of work early, made up some story about his kids. Part of him felt guilty for using his kids as a means to lie to his superior, but telling her that he needed to leave because he didn’t want his girlfriend alone with his puppy for longer than necessary was not something his boss would accept. 

But as he hurries down the stairs to the underground parking and his car, he feels an odd sense of relief. Thoughts of Julia trying to handle a puppy would not leave his mind and made it difficult to focus and be productive in any capacity. His mind conjured up all sorts of horror scenarios. So, when he pulls up in front of her flat and doesn’t see any light whatsoever, he is worried, to say the least. He doesn’t even want to delve into the corner of his mind that had the moment stored where he uttered those three words this morning.

Every sense in his body seems to be elevated as he enters Julia’s humble abode at last, but he neither sees nor hears anything. Panic starts spreading, but he tries to keep his cool. Surely, everything was fine. 

Then he turns on one of the desk lamps and the sight he is presented with, shocks him to the core. Surprise would be an underestimation. He expected anything but finding his Julia sleeping on the couch with his puppy curled up on her lap. 

Bowie immediately wakes, ready to become a guard dog, but jumps off in excitement upon seeing his owner. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” David apologizes sheepishly as he kneels down to greet his dog when Julia wakes, bleary-eyed, all muscles rigid and aching from the uncomfortable sleeping position she was in. 

“Did you manage alright?” he asks after another moment of doting to the hyper dog. 

“You need to clean the bathroom,” she retorts without missing a beat. “I felt like it should be your duty to clean up the confetti in there.”

She wants to sound annoyed but fails as David sits down on the couch next to her. There is the ghost of a smile on her face. 

“Aye,” it’s almost a whisper as he leans in for a kiss and feels home at last when he feels her soft lips on his. Before he can deepen the kiss though, she bites his lower lip, creates a puckered kissing sound and evokes a moan from David and leans back. 

David pouts, but she speaks and doesn’t give him the chance to reply. “Work first, play later,” she informs him with a raised eyebrow that leaves absolutely no room to question if they would get a lot of sleep that night. 

“Mean,” he mumbles and gets up reluctantly. Bowie gives a little bark of excitement and is ready to follow David wherever he intends to go. 

Just as David is about to make his way to the crime scene, Julia speaks once again. “You know, I love you, too. And now off you go.”

“Yes, ma’am,” David replied with a relieved and utterly happy grin. 

Uttering those words was easier than she expected them to be. As he and his puppy trot off into the bathroom, Julia muses that there were worse things in the world than a boyfriend with a puppy. It isn’t the worst normalcy to get used to.


End file.
